Normally it’s kids getting kicked out of Catholic schools for having gay parents. But for Christine Judd, the now-former athletic director and dean of students, being forced out of Cathedral High School, part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield, only took marrying her lesbian partner.
The diocese listed her departure as a resignation, but Judd said she is still exploring her legal options. “I was given a choice of termination or resignation,” Judd said. “I’m hurt, but I wish nothing but the best for Cathedral, its students, the parents, the athletic teams, administration and faculty. I bleed purple (the school’s color).”
Judd, a Springfield resident, worked for the Catholic school for 12 years, beginning as a science teacher in 1998. She became dean of students six years ago and was given the added duties of athletic director three years ago. “I married my partner this summer,” Judd said. “I was hoping that my loyalty, my professionalism the last 12 years would supersede the current hypocrisy that has already been shown with the Diocese of Springfield.”
Asked to elaborate on her claim of hypocrisy, Judd said she questions if there are lay persons who work for the Catholic diocese who divorce and remarry without an annulment, or employees who use birth control, or men who have had vasectomies, or individuals who are pro-choice on abortion.
When Massachusetts’ St. Paul Roman Catholic Elementary kicked out an eight-year-old boy with two mommies, Boston’s archbishop Seán Patrick O’Malley stepped in to condemn the move. Where you at now, SP?
randy
There is some good to come out of this. The Catholic school just taught the students that they will prosecute gays and lesbians, but not anyone else who violates church teaching. The students have learned that the catholics are hypocrites who hate gays more than anything else.
Those students will grow up realizing the church is homophobic, hypocritical and just plain stupid and unfair. They realize that church doctrine is more important that having a good teacher.
In other words, they church didn’t teach the students that gay is bad, but that the church is bad. This will backfire upon them, and they are too blind to realize that.
Steve
It’s not the school that did this, but the diocese. Which doesn’t make it any less pathetic though. Everyone there had to know she is gay. But suddenly she marries and it becomes intolerable.
Saying “It’s ok to be gay and live in a committed relationship, but don’t marry” makes it even less sense than outright condemnation.
Joe
Judd said, “I was hoping that my loyalty, my professionalism the last 12 years would supersede the current hypocrisy that has already been shown with the Diocese of Springfield.” Oh, sweetheart! To quote the late, great John Candy in response to this: ‘And if they told you wolverines would make great house pets, would you believe them?’ C’mon. This is the Catholic Church we’re talking about. Hypocisy is their middle name
Kieran
“Woe Unto You Scribes and Pharisees, Hypocrites! You lay heavy burdens on other people’s backs, but you wouldn’t even lift a finger to help them carry it. Brood of Vipers!”
—-Jesus of Nazareth
Jen
I have zero comprehension of LGBTs who try to make a place for themselves in the church. Have they even *read* the Bible? Not a nice book.
http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/gay/long.htm
j
@Kieran: Hahah, I’ve always loved this one. It always seems appropriate when the church is involved, no matter what the issue is!
Joe
@Kieran: actually, that was John the Baptist that said that (Mt 3: 7-10), but still… ! I agree.
Kieran
Sorry Joe, but Jesus of Nazareth says these words about the hypocrisy of the religious leaders. Read it in Matthew chapter 23.
Cassandra
“Not a nice book.”
Someone must not have ever actually read it.
Atheists opining about religion are like celibates opining about sex – both waste everyone time’s pretending to be experts in something they have no experience of.
1 Corinthians 13
Love
1If I speak in the tongues[a] of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames,[b] but have not love, I gain nothing.
4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
dvd-junkie
@Cassandra: Actually, some of us have come to despise religion BECAUSE of prior first-hand experiences.
Steve
In fact many atheists know more about Christianity and other faiths than most of the run of the mill followers of those religions. Because they have studied the books and doctrine, thought about it, found it wanting and rejected it.
Cassandra
“In fact many atheists know more about Christianity and other faiths than most of the run of the mill followers of those religions. Because they have studied the books and doctrine, thought about it, found it wanting and rejected it.”
That’s a pretty fantasy, Steve.
However, the evidence online is that atheists, at best, only know a smidgen of conservative, pop, theology. In more than twenty years, I’ve yet to encounter an atheist with more than a superficial, purposely distorted understanding of Christianity. Jen’s post is a perfect example. She buys into the distortion of conservative anti-gay theology, without any understanding of how the core principles Christ taught completely repudiate anti-gay theology, or any other theology of prejudice and injustice. Willful ignorance is not wisdom.
The fact is that atheists online, and professionals like Dawkins, essentially argue a strawman version of Christianity that is composed of distortion, lie, exaggeration, and nonsense. The irony is that some of them even complain viciously when ID folk distort and misrepresent science in exactly the same way.
The truth is that atheists describe Christianity as accurately as homophobes, including Joe Dallas, describe homosexuality. Atheism is a prejudice just like homophobia.
I suppose it was the denial of pride in the definition of love that you found wanting. Pride is a hard thing for people to give up, and atheism like all prejudices is primarily about pride (and not the good self-esteem kind, but the arrogant superiority complex kind), the idea that you know better than most of humanity what they experience and feel.
DVD-Junkie: “Actually, some of us have come to despise religion BECAUSE of prior first-hand experiences.”
Oh, like the way so many ex-gays have come to despise homosexuality because of their first hand experience. Thanks for reminding how atheists are like ex-gays – in denial.
ron
@Cassandra: You sound like a real nutcase. Fuck your made-up bible and fuck your made-up god.
Cassandra
Ron
It isn’t sensible to insult my sanity, when of the two of us, only you had to resort to name-calling and obscenity to communicate.
Ogre Magi
Cassandra is a nut, she has a monkey’s butt!